Police have suspected former Yuzhnoukrainsk Mayor Valeriy Onufriyenko of beating his deputy at a meeting on the distribution of humanitarian aid. After lengthy criticism, the city council fired him in June.
The police of Mykolaiv oblast write about it on Facebook.
“On March 3, the Voznesenskyi District Police Department received a report from a local resident working in the local community that the head of the local government had inflicted bodily injuries on her. During the pre-trial investigation, law enforcement officers found out that during a meeting on the distribution of humanitarian aid, a conflict arose between the mayor and his deputy, during which the attacker, disregarding the rules of conduct in the local government, struck the woman several times. According to the experts, the applicants suffered minor injuries,” the statement reads.
On June 20, the man was declared a suspect under Part 2 of Art. 350 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine "Threat or violence against an official or a citizen performing a public duty." He faces up to 5 years in prison. The court will now choose a measure of restraint for him.
On June 16, Onufriyenko himself was dismissed by the city council. He was criticized for rarely holding sessions and for illegally dismissing a City Council employee who had succeeded in returning to work in court and now has to receive about UAH 160,000 from the budget. In addition, the story of the beating of the deputy has resonated. This was the second attempt because in May 2022 the deputies ran out of votes.